Comcast Boxes and a question

[deadend5001]

Hey guys,

I was browsing around the forums and saw this guy's post: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...t=comcast+pics

I have comcast like him, and we have digital and digital HD boxes here as well. My question is how does he have it setup? What's the point of the boxes?

[gplasky]

He has three tuners in his server. Each Comcast box is probably connected to the s-video imput of each tuner card. This way he gets a better picture quality that with coax and can record any premium content (think HBO) from his cable box.

Gerry

[Paul H]

I have 3 Comcast Digital boxes, 2 are connected to STV. The Picture quality is leagues above stright coax. The only downside the boxes I have don't S-Video, but the composite the still better than coax. I use a USBUIRT to control both boxes, there's a thread on this site: http://65.36.202.170/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=266 .

[deadend5001]

So you had to custom program the IR boxes and the IR boxes control changing channels and such. I guess that works out pretty good but I bet you had to program which channels you get by hand.

Was programming the IR devices hard?

[deadend5001]

Oh I forgot to ask. Do you use multiple UIRT or do you use one to control all 3 comcast boxes

[Paul H]

Originally Posted by deadend5001

Oh I forgot to ask. Do you use multiple UIRT or do you use one to control all 3 comcast boxes

You can control 3 boxes with an unmodfied UIRT (1 with the FLASHER LED on the front of the box and 2 connected via a splitter to the 1/8 " stereo jack on the back). I modified my UIRT by disconnecting the FLASHER LED and adding another LED on a short lead in its place. I didn't want the FLASHER LED to interfere with the third cable box, which I use for realtime cable viewing (it's output is also connected to my 8X4 matrix switch so I can use it with STV when I'm not Home). This is controlled by my Sage Server, I use another UIRT on my Sage Client/MainLobby frontend. I use a MX500 Remote control for Sage and to control my AV.

[deadend5001]

haha yeah that's a bit confusing.

[Paul H]

Sorry, this is all you need to answer your question:

You can control 3 boxes with an unmodfied UIRT (1 with the FLASHER LED on the front of the box and 2 external flashers connected via a splitter* to the 1/8 " stereo jack on the back).

* 1/8" stereo plug to 2 MONO 1/8" jacks (one for each 'channel').

[deipert]

Where do I get the external flashers connected to a 1/8 stereo or mono jack to do this?

All I want to do is control a second Comcast cable box.

So if I understand this correctly, I use my already working unmodified USBUirt and plug in a 1/8 jack to an external flasher. Can someone explain this a bit further? Do I have to isolate the Comcast boxes so the flasher does not change the channel on the other box? What needs to be done to program this? I tried searching for more info on this and could use some additional help.

What about just buying another USBUirt and how could that work?

[Tiki]

You can get all the parts you need at Radio Shack.

At a minimum you need 2 IR LEDs, a mini jack, and some wire.
IR LED's are about $1-$2 each
mini jack is about $2-$3

You will also need a soldering iron to attach everything.

Instead of soldering directly to a mini jack, I opted to use a splitter (stereo mini jack to 2 mono RCA Jacks Left + Right). Then got two long (15 foot) speaker wires with RCA plugs on the end and soldered 1 LED onto each one. Cover the soldered wires with shrink tube or black electrical tape and you are done. For me about $12 in parts and 15 minutes to assemble. There are some other threads on the forum with more detailed instructions.

+++

I also have 2 Comcast boxes running this way. There are 2 small setup tricks you must do because all of the Comcast boxes use the same remote codes:
1. Must isolate the transmitters / boxes from one another so that the signal intended for one box doesn't trigger the other. Many people do this by folding apiece of cardboard to make a "tent" that covers the blaster LED. Just tape the LED to the front of the cable box so it is over the area of the box where the signal gets received.
2. When you set-up the IR Blaster for the USBUIRT, it creates a text file that defines each button. There is one line for each button (they don't usually map every button on the remote control, just the numbers 0-9 and OK). First, get things working with one cable box and the main USBUIRT zone. Then make copies of the definition file and append "Z1", "Z2", or "Z3" (for the 3 zones that the USBUIRT can control) to the beginning of every line.

Here is a link to a forum thread that talks about this stuff in detail... http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...light=usb-uirt

[Paul H]

You can buy complete flashers here:
http://www.hometech.com/infrared/emi...tml#BB-15521C7

[deipert]

If I decide to get Comcast HD boxes in the future, does anyone know if this multiple IR setup will still work? I assume it would if the IR codes are the same.

Yes, I know I would also have to get HD tuners and HD extenders.

[jprine01]

I'm about to install some comcast boxes at my gfs house, can I load different IR code sets for each box like I can with my dish network boxes? With Dish there are about 10 different code sets to choose from and then you can stack all the boxes up and use only one IR blaster to control them all since the signals wont conflict.

[Tiki]

From what I have seen with Comcast, they use the same IR codes for all their boxes (regular, HD, DVR). This way they can use the same remotes with whatever box they give you. It's convenient for them, but a pain if you want to use multiple boxes in the same room since you never know which box might pickup your remote commands.

That is one really nice thing about DISH - they let you pick different remote codes for each box.

As stated above, you can use a single USBUIRT with SageTV to control up to 3 converter boxes with the same remote codes. The USBUIRT has a jack built in (looks like a headphone jack on a walkman or mp3 player) where you can plug in a splitter cable with external IR leds. Unfortunately, the guy that makes the USBUIRT doesn't sell this extra cable. Fortunately it's pretty easy to make one yourself and there are some websites where you can buy them.

Once you get the splitter cable, you put one IR LED by each cable box (if the boxes are close together, you may need to tape a piece of cardboard or something to the front of the box to block the infrared light from one IR LED from getting picked up by the wrong box).

You also have to make 3 copies of the remote code configuration file and edit each one, then tell Sage which config file to use for each cable box/tuner. This is easy to do and documented elsewhere in this forum.

[BobPhoenix]

Get a USB-UIRT and one of these from Radio Shack and an IR Emitter like these from SmartHome.